It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Published October 5, 2010

Shot about two weeks ago in Philly on a sunny day (remember those?) – a story for the AARP Bulletin about a volunteer working in the Philadelphia public schools. The client requested that I shoot more in the vein of my personal work. So, while we brought lights just in case I worked without them and I created a scenario which was a bit more spontaneous than a lit portrait would be.

Meredithe Riley, the subject, was wonderful as we finessed her arrival to the school. It was interesting to change the gist of what I was doing. For the image which ran Meredithe was in open shade with the school lit by direct sun in the background. Had I been thinking lights, I would have used lights, but exposing for her and then pulling back the exposure by -1 stop in Aperture was all it needed. Throw in a touch of recovery, a small curve bump, a slight amount of dodging, and it balanced out perfectly.